What’s Turning Minority Voters Away From Mitt? Maybe His Crowds

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The Romney campaign knows they have a problem with Latino voters. In August, they set a target of getting 38 percent of the Latino vote, which is 7 points higher than John McCain received in 2008. McCain was a one-time champion of comprehensive immigration reform and hails from a state with a significant Latino population.

Mitt Romney won the GOP nomination by attacking Rick Perry for supporting a Texas DREAM Act and by endorsing a policy of self-deportation.

Romney has since moved to the center, promising that he will get immigration reform done and saying that he wouldn’t deport the first wave of DREAM-eligible students the president has made it his policy not to deport—at least for a few years.

Has this helped? Not really. In the latest Latino Decisions poll, Romney only received 20 percent support from Latinos. Down from 21 percent in the previous polls. Why is he going down?

Here’s a theory. Look at his crowds.

Whenever Mitt Romney speaks, the crowd is very diverse. There are white people in their 50s, 60s and 70s.

But seriously, look at these crowds:

Photo credit: AP

Is this much white even allowed after Labor Day?

Photo credit: @rovibe71

Even at night you get the idea.

Photo credit: hollybdc • Instagram

Contrast those images with this:

Photo credit: @theladyharley

Perhaps if you can’t see yourself in a candidate’s crowd, it’s hard to imagine seeing yourself voting for him.